


the wheels on the bus (go round and round)

by ghostkids



Series: welcome to amity park [7]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: (narrowly averted), Autistic Danny Fenton, Car Accident, Carsickness Mention, Danny Fenton (Danny Phantom) Is Autistic, Gen, Near Death Experiences, POV Outsider, nausea mention, no actual car accident but it almost happens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:41:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28186293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostkids/pseuds/ghostkids
Summary: jacqui experiences yet another bus ride of DOOM (now with extra intangibility, courtesy of phantom, but at least he's helping instead of making it worse).
Relationships: Amity Park & Danny Phantom
Series: welcome to amity park [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1750180
Comments: 8
Kudos: 49





	the wheels on the bus (go round and round)

**Author's Note:**

> i will be proofreading this later. it's still a very rough fic but i wanted to post it before i forgot. also i think in every single fic with jacqui she's gotten sick in some way, oops. poor jacqui.

_public transportation sucks,_ jacqui thinks to herself, as she attempts to keep anna from dropping crackers on the floor with one hand and simultaneously balance her bag (filled to bursting) and text her mother with the other hand. she always ends up feeling more than a bit ill when she rides the bus, probably something to do with being crammed in close quarters with strangers and not being the one driving the vehicle, but her car’s in the shop and she has to get anna to childcare and herself to work somehow. 

this is how jacqui ends up sitting on the bus with her daughter way too early on a dreary monday morning. despite being on the bus, though, everything goes smoothly. almost a bit too smoothly, jacqui thinks to herself suspiciously, but she isn’t going to question her sudden good luck. 

this is, of course, the moment that everything goes completely sideways. the truck in the oncoming lane swerves abruptly, crossing the yellow line. somehow, there are no other vehicles on the usually busy stretch of the road. unluckily for them, _they_ are still there.

everyone screams as the truck barrels right towards the bus. sudden light flashes, bright and blinding in the enclosed space. jacqui shrieks, eyes burning. she’s not the only one; the other passengers cry out in varying degrees of shock and terror. 

" _keep driving,_ " someone yells. “ _everyone else, brace yourselves._ ” 

jacqui doesn't see who yells, not through the spots still blazing in her vision, but she knows enough to duck her head and shield anna with her own body. 

the driver must not be able to see either, but he follows instructions and keeps his foot pressed on the pedal. tires squeal, the bus jolting from side to side as the voice yells for him to turn the wheel right, then left. jacqui clutches anna close as the bus darts sideways one last time, much faster than such a large vehicle has any right to be, finally coming to a screeching, shuddering halt with the last groan of metal. then, silence, eerie and all consuming in its suddenness. 

"well, that sure was a close one, huh," the voice says, shattering the silence. "everyone all right?"

well, they sure _shouldn't_ be alright, not after that, but somehow they are. jacqui opens her eyes and gets her explanation.

phantom shakes his head to flick his hair out of his eyes. he's still clutching the bus seat in front of him, fingers curled so tight that the cheap material creaks under his grip when he tries to let go. 

" _thank you, phantom._ " the driver’s voice is barely more than a breath, his eyes so wide that jacqui has the passing thought they might pop out of his head if they get any wider.

“wow! you’re so cool, phantom!” one of the passengers almost yells.

“you got here so fast!” someone else exclaims. “how?”

“you can’t just _ask_ him that,” the girl’s friend says, scandalized, elbowing her. she seems to know something that no one else has realized yet.

“uh…” phantom’s hand goes to the back of his neck, before he stops himself. he seems at a loss for words, for a question that wouldn’t usually be so unsettling.

abruptly, jacqui realizes why. he must have been on the bus, in his human disguise. he had to have been. this wasn’t a ghost emergency. he should have, logically, had no way of knowing what was happening. the other passengers seem to have come to the same conclusion. amity’s citizens glance at each other, then turn almost as one to face phantom, each of them choosing not to question for phantom’s sake. 

“thank you, phantom.”

“all in a day’s work,” phantom says. he pops out of sight, reappearing on the other side of the window. the passengers see him inspecting the side of the road for anything that might have caused the truck to swerve. they watch as he shifts a large bag of garbage away from the shoulder; he can’t do anything with it, not right away, but he can call the correct people to make sure that the hazard is taken care of. 

he pops back into view inside the bus. “alright, everyone still good?”

“believe so,” the bus driver tells him. “thanks again for the save.”

“all in a day's work! well, in that case, i guess i should be going now,” phantom says, and starts to go invisible. 

“wait!” the bus driver shouts, so sudden that jacqui jumps despite herself. he continues speaking, his voice slightly more quiet. “you can stay if you want. unless you really do have to go.”

phantom fades back into view again. “i- thank you?” he glances around, eyes skittering over the passengers with his usual quick scanning. his gaze finally lands on the open seat beside jacqui. “hey. mind if i sit here?”

“go right ahead.” jacqui waves him over, shifting her daughter more upright on her knee in a motion that somehow stays fluid despite her muscles still shaking with tension.

phantom makes his way over, and jacqui can’t help but notice that his feet are actually touching the ground. they have been the whole time, somehow. he sits down on the seat, slouching awkwardly and looking extremely out of place even as the bus crawls back onto the road with a grumble.

jacqui laughs slightly, giving him a weak smile even though her stomach is still churning from the unexpected wild ride. “messed up, huh?” she asks him. “realized you now can’t change back because everyone’s going to know who you are?”

“uh. yup.” phantom grins bashfully. he runs his hand through his hair. “did. absolutely not think that through at all.”

anna babbles happily, reaching for phantom.

“hey there, anna!” phantom says brightly, as the little girl somehow manages to reach forward and grab onto his sleeve with hands still sticky from her snack. 

“sorry! i’m so sorry!” jacqui manages to apologize, over the sound of anna’s frustrated screeching when her mother won’t let her actually climb onto phantom. "she really seems to like you."

"it's okay," phantom says, even as the bus starts to slow down. phantom peers out the window and sits up straighter. “well,” he says, “here’s my stop! thanks for letting me sit here.”

before jacqui can respond, he vanishes into thin air, like he was never there at all.


End file.
